The recent mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado have stirred considerable discussion and action about gun laws, as well as boosting firearms sales. A rush to action is often not the wisest move on such a complex subject, for as criminologist Dr. Gary Mauser of Vancouver, British Columbia observes, gun laws are typically passed during periods of fear and/or political instability, which leads to the slippery slope of gun control, which is based on emotional reactions rather than solid research.

Dr. Mauser holds joint U.S. and Canadian citizenship and has taught at Simon Fraser for some 35 years. He has lectured all across North America, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe and published numerous papers on firearms. He has served as a Member of the Canadian national Firearms Advisory Committee, Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and been a member of the advisory group to the Canadian delegation to the United Nations on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

Gary and I met at an international firearms scholars symposium that was held at the Tower of London in 2003, which was sponsored by the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. My son and I filmed a documentary about the symposium, A Question of Balance, which you can learn more about here.

A history of gun control in Canada

According to Dr. Mauser, historically Canada has had stricter gun control legislation than the U.S., lower rates of criminal violence, and a higher rate of suicide. In 1913, a fear of immigrants prompted the first national serious handgun legislation, requiring civilians to obtain a police-issued permit to acquire or carry handguns. Non-British immigrants found it difficult to get a permit.

I dont think its a sad story at all. It does, after all, have a happy ending. They got rid of that crap. Something we could learn here. (NFA.)

Canadians can now import more neat kinds of non-automatic weapons out there than Americans can. The Umarex .22lr clone of the German MP44 here can also be had in the original 7.62mm kurz in Canada, semi-auto only, of course. A lot of American gun writers test these things in Canada because they will never be allowed in the US. They just never mention that along with the glowing reports.

Nice to know what they'll never let us own via import. And, of course, the gun grabbers say, "if it's not allowed to be imported, why do we allow American companies to build them?".

9
posted on 05/09/2013 12:48:13 AM PDT
by 300winmag
(Whatever CAN go wrong has already happened. We just don't know about it yet.)

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